h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Herman Hesse wrote some spellbinding books. Here are some quotes from his writings:

Eternity is a mere moment, just long enough for a joke.

If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us.

Knowledge can be communicated, but wisdom cannot. A man can find it, he can live it, he can be filled and sustained by it, but he cannot utter or teach it.

People with courage and character always seem sinister to the rest.

When dealing with the insane, the best method is to pretend to be sane.

Pattern-chaser

"Who cares, wins"

Beautiful writing

I read 'Siddhartha' while in high school

"All of this had always existed, and he had not seen it; he had not been
with it. Now he was with it, he was part of it. Light and shadow
ran through his eyes, stars and moon ran through his heart."

Now that I think about it, I had a craze for Hesse when I was in the 6th form. Although I was taking Maths, Physics and Chemistry, all my friends were taking English and the like, and I had to keep up with them, or lose touch with them. [And yet most of them were proud of their ignorance of matters scientific and technical....]

Anyway, I read all the Hesse I could lay my hands on, except for a book of short stories that somehow never appealed. Hesse seemed to be able to say in a paragraph what might take Kafka an entire book. Hesse was hugely more readable, but no less of an author for that.

Over the years, I've come back and read "The Glass Bead Game" again and again. Happy memories....

Pattern-chaser

"Who cares, wins"

Just in case you still come to hootoo from time to time (since your last posting is from 2006 ).

I love Herman Hesse. The quotes you abstracted... Well, they are very similar to the ones I did... I would insert some of them but I would have to translate them to English so they would probably lose the sense.

I must say that Hesse is the author that affected me most. His first book I read was "Demian" in 7th grade. Since than I read everything I could find. I read "The Glass Bead Game" about a month ago, I left it under my pillow and haven't moved it since than. I still cannot "recollect" from it. Some of his ideas just make my head spin. So narrow with words but so wide with meanings, he is a true artist.

danica_venera
"Carpe diem"

For anyone who has not had the pleasure of reading Siddhartha, and either has not the time or a convenient copy, you can read a couple of ultra-condensed versions on my Personal space.

A link can be found under the heading:
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